Is RF01 Pro a blend between RF97 and Blade 18x20 ?

Unforgiven79

Semi-Pro
Hi All,

With all the (inevitable) fuzz around the new RF01 line, the underlying thought is that its design purpose was simply "Roger's losing a further step with age, so he needs to mitigate that via a less demanding racquet". That was the same as with RF97, if you think about it, thus following his same path, considering none of us is getting any younger with the years.

3yrs ago, I tried to do a little bit of the same by merging the pro's of RF97 or Blade 18x20,... and trying to counter their respective con's: too heavy weight to effectively defend when on the back foot on one side, instability at the net + head-heavy balance on the other.
Therefore, I tweaked two Amplifeel Blades with 15g of lead tape underneath the grip at the bottom tip (to get the 31cm BP), then 5g more at 3/9 to emulate PWS, a leather tape,... and a red-coloured Wilson cap. That gave me the Blade maneuvrability, whippy dynamics, but with some ProStaff stability, head-light feeling, and touch.

  • Would you say this RF01 Pro is exactly the same experiment, only better executed since courtesy of Roger and Wilson, instead of a tennis desperado?
 

Unforgiven79

Semi-Pro
OK, so in the end curiosity got the upper end on me and I requested a demo RF01 Pro from TWE.
Yesterday evening I hit with it for 1 hour (warm-up + 1 tight set + 1 TB). Here it comes my review - for those who are interested.

Well, for sure it is beautiful - beyond that, it has been a nice and strange experience. I tested it primarily to compare it with my customized Blade of use and my RF97A.
Please keep in mind I had tweaked my 18x20 Blades to move them into the ProStaff direction: much weight underneath the grip to make it more HL, leather grip, lead at 3/9 to make it more stable and emulate PWS (total: 320+g unstrung.)

The racquet comes with a new OG and a slick poly stringbed (don't know the brand/model). When holding it, it feels weird: it looks like some sort of Babolat crap: large and round profile, lightweighted (but it's 320g unstrung!).
Its 98sq'' hoop oddly would look smaller that RF97A 97sq''.

Feel: I hit with it and it does not feel that different from my tweaked Blade; maybe it flies more smoothly through the air, but definitely the ball contact is solid and slightly reminds of when using any "real" ProStaff. Maybe it is the stuffing, but by how it looks you would expect a typical hollow feeling upon making contact with the ball. Instead, it works. Being 16x19, there is more pocketing effect compared to my 18x20, so a couple of volleys come out fine, while demi-volleys are definitely a beuty. In the end: it looks a hollow racket, but it ain't. The handle shape feels more like ProStaff (the best in the business with me!!!) than Blade, which is good for me in general and my OHBH specifically. Upon impact, it feels more ProStaff, while upon impact at the net, it feels very ProStaff-ish.

Power: again, maybe it is the string pattern, maybe the shape cutting through the air, but power is there if you push foward, and you may play do some damage if you push it hard. No free power though: sometime I think that I cannot finish points if I don't slam it with full force, which is something I have to do with the Blade as well, while not too much with the RF97A. Serve is a joy, since the frame again moves around very quickly, and the open pattern enables more rotation (hence spin) and the ball looks a little faster.

Control: from a "hollow crap" lookalike you would expect none, but in fact it is quite precise and volleys may be put away quite easily, thanks to the holy HL balance which allows you to wipe your racket and still know where it actually is in the air. Maybe it is the odd shape of the throat, with all those steps, enabling better feedback. Please note I was not using my hybrid Kirschbaum stringbed, instead it was something of an unknown poly combination, but I could easily place the ball where I wanted. I played one drop-shot from behind the baseline with my backhand and it was a candy - inch-perfect! Maybe is the dense sweetspot pattern...
Now, the reason why I had left the 16x19 setups in favour of 18x20 was to abandon a kamikaze approach to the match (i.e. hitting with full force as soon as you get half of a chance, because you know it will break the wall), in favour of a more rational strategy based on accurate ball placement. I am afraid returning to 16x19 with its simple access to hard-hitting and spin is too tempting and you end up trying to finish off the point when it would be not yet the most appropriate moment.

Note on PJ: I received this demo in cosmetically perfect conditions, but after only one hour of playing I found two small white spots, as if a small chipping of paint had happened - quite weird.

BOTTOMLINE!
Incredibly similar to my tweaked Blade and an RF97A, despite its shape looking more like an APD - maybe gravitating closer to the Blade.
Indeed I get better access to push, pocketing, and spin, at the apparent expense of some placement precision, but I guess I would end up with the same trade if I duly switched to an equally tweaked 16x19 Blade...

However, all in all a great product, which does weight 320g (like a Head Prestige), but does not feel like that. Suitable for competitive tennis, one has anyway to carefully play with strings to achieve the desired control vs power/spin balance. Oh, and outside of the sweetspot it is not forgiving at all. One-hander and all-round players should definitely give it a shot. I think Wilson was able to design a new, versatile stick which takes advantage of latest material solutions to achieve a combination of features which previously had to be necessrily traded off.

One caveat: my opponent was another all-attack guy and we were playing in mildly cold conditions, hence all rallies were short and hard.
On Saturday morning I am hitting 2 hours with a left-handed retriever: let's see if I can better playing tactical tennis with this girl...
 

eric42

Semi-Pro
Interesting, I've weighted up every Blade 98 version that has been made (except for the retail V8) and don't think any of them remotely resemble the feel or performance of the RF01 Pro. The RF pro is waaay stiffer feeling and more powerful and the stringbed more erratic with that weird progressive spacing of the mains. I guess feel is very subjective though. Pro stock Blade 98 18x20 is my main stick, and I immediately got rid of the RF01 pro I tried. Lots of racquets are relatively interchangeable for me with the Blade - Percept 97, Pro Staff 97, Ultra Pro, PT-57A, Prestige Pro/Classic, VCORE 95, etc., but the RF01 pro is not even close.

You could argue the Blade PRO (way different from regular Blade) moves closer to the RF01 pro , but even the BP is a little softer and more controlled and less powerful than the RF pro.
 
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Unforgiven79

Semi-Pro
Interesting, I've weighted up every Blade 98 version that has been made (except for the retail V8) and don't think any of them remotely resemble the feel or performance of the RF01 Pro. The RF pro is waaay stiffer feeling and more powerful and the stringbed more erratic with that weird progressive spacing of the mains. I guess feel is very subjective though. Pro stock Blade 98 18x20 is my main stick, and I immediately got rid of the RF01 pro I tried. Lots of racquets are relatively interchangeable for me with the Blade - Percept 97, Pro Staff 97, Ultra Pro, PT-57A, Prestige Pro/Classic, VCORE 95, etc., but the RF01 pro is not even close.

You could argue the Blade PRO (way different from regular Blade) moves closer to the RF01 pro , but even the BP is a little softer and more controlled and less powerful than the RF pro.
Well, as stated my Blade was tweaked relatively heavily to mend to the bridge towards ProStaff in general and RF97 in particular: a lot of weight at the bottom tip with leather grip to beef up the handle (the same way RF97 is made different than PS97) definitely changes the "fishing stick" nature of native Blades. The throat is a pure box beam like any PS, though thinner of course.
I could not enjoy playing with a stock Blade, but this modified version has given me a lot of joy.
 

eric42

Semi-Pro
Well, as stated my Blade was tweaked relatively heavily to mend to the bridge towards ProStaff in general and RF97 in particular: a lot of weight at the bottom tip with leather grip to beef up the handle (the same way RF97 is made different than PS97) definitely changes the "fishing stick" nature of native Blades.
I get it, I have a leather grip plus about 20g of silicone and putty in the handle of all my Blades w/ a little lead on the hoop for 345 SW. Easy to replicate the weight/balance/SW of the RF pro of course, but IMO the feel is still WAY different than the Blade.
 
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